Erik Spoelstra reached out to Mike Brown over the summer and searched for insight into both basketballs blessing and curse: Coaching the two-time MVP
LeBron James(notes).
Over and over, Brown uprooted his offensive system to appease James only to have it never work. Brown praised James character publicly when he wouldve preferred to have been truthful about James narcissism. James defied Brown in public and private, disregarded his play calls to freelance his offense, and belittled him without consequence within the
Cleveland Cavaliers.
Meticulous in his preparation, Spoelstra spoke with several past coaches, and league sources said a clear and unequivocal picture appeared on how to proceed: End the cycle of enabling with James and hold him accountable.
And surprise, surprise: LeBron James has responded with a test of his own organizational strength, pushing to see how far the Heat will bend to his will. This season, James is hearing a word seldom uttered to him in Cleveland: No. And it keeps coming out of the coachs mouth, keeps getting between the King and what he wants.
Can I stay overnight to party in New Orleans after a preseason game?
Can I play the clown in practice?
Can I get out of playing point guard?
No. No. No.
Wait, what?
No, LeBron.
No.
Even within a month of the seasons sideways 9-8 start, the NBA witnessed a predictable play out of the James-Maverick Carter playbook on Monday morning. They
planted a story and exposed themselves again as jokers of the highest order. They care so little about anyone but themselves. Still, no ones surprised that theyd stoop so low, so fast into this supposed historic 73-victory season and NBA Finals sweep of the
Los Angeles Lakers. They want Spoelstra and Pat Riley to bend to them, to bow to the King the way everyone has before them.
Nevertheless, heres what was surprising even troubling when the Heat talked on Monday before a victory over the
Washington Wizards: In the blink of an eye,
Dwyane Wade(notes) signed up with Team LeBron to scapegoat and sell out Spoelstra.
Im not going to say hes my guy, but hes my coach, Wade said.
Wades always been loyal, and thats why it was so surprising to witness him bail this fast on Spoelstra, whom Wade knows too well. Spoelstra is a good NBA coach. Everyone knows that Wade isnt a star who plays hard all the time, knows that he takes plays off on defense. They know that Spoelstra did a terrific job coaching 90 victories out of that flawed Miami roster the previous two seasons.
As much as ever, the Heat need Wade to influence James. Only now, its clear James is influencing Wade. With
Udonis Haslem(notes) out for the regular season, the locker room misses one of its vital voices. Now, Wade is struggling on the floor and James is the devil on his shoulder, whispering that he doesnt need to be accountable, that theres an easy fall guy for everyone: Spoelstra.
Those who know Wade well, who care about him, were disappointed Monday. When Spoelstra needed Wade to stand up for him, Wade never shrunk so small. Spoelstra was Wades guy, but Wades finding it much easier to align himself with James coward act than do the right thing. This was something that youd expect out of
Chris Bosh(notes), whos never been a leader, never a winner, but Wade?
He knows better than this, one of Wades former assistant coaches said. Im not saying he hasnt changed some, but he knows right from wrong. And this is wrong.
The fundamental problem for Spoelstra isnt that James doesnt respect coaches he doesnt respect people. Give LeBron this, though: Hes learned to live one way with the television light on, and another with it off. He treats everyone like a servant, because thats what the system taught him as a teenage prodigy. To James, the coach isnt there to mold him into the team dynamic. Hes there to serve him.
Wade was one of the Team USA players whod watch incredulously as James would throw a bowl of fries back at a renowned chef and bark, Theyre cold! Or throw his sweaty practice jersey across the court and command a team administrator to go pick it up. Everyone wants James to grow out of it, but hes never showed much of an inclination for self-examination and improvement. And hes never surrounded himself with people whod push him to do so.
Whats more, the timing of this leak was no accident, because James and his business manager had to like the idea of someone else going on trial this week. When the public wanted to talk about James return to Cleveland, about the callous way with which he left, about the disjointed start in Miami, they thrust everything onto Spoelstra.
Part of them believed they could deflect Hell Week at home in Ohio, and part of them probably believed they could indeed align the public with them against Spoelstra.
After all, the coach had it coming to him. Of this, LeBron James was sure. Spoelstra had the audacity to do something that Mike Brown never had ownerships backing to do in Cleveland: To push James, call him out, coach him.
The funniest part had to be how they leaked the idea that Eric Spoelstra was panicking now, behaving like he feared for his job. Truth be told, hes been behaving in the opposite way. Spoelstra isnt running from LeBron, but running at him.
Someones scared here, but it isnt the coach.
